Last week, Google announced a new “Street View” from Antarctica,
a seemingly remote and desolate place. Is there nowhere left to
hide?
Two new Street Views allow you a glimpse of a
colony of penguins as well as a
scenic vista of Half Moon Island, one of the Shetland Islands
in the Southern Ocean.
Penguins on Half Moon Island, from
Google Street View
Now, Street View images are available on all seven continents,
bragged
Brian McClendon, vice president of engineering for Google Earth
and Maps.
Several bloggers were quick to point out that Antarctica has no
streets to view, so the name is completely out of context. (more…)
Studies about the future of the Elwha River, which snakes up
into Olympic National Park, have been going on for more than 20
years. Now that dam removal is about a year away, excitement is
reaching new heights.
Glines Canyon Dam is the larger of
the two dams to be removed on the Elwha River.
Photo courtesy of National Park Service
I thought that this would be a good time to discuss the
restoration of the river and reservoirs behind the two dams. How
will the natural environment change? What kinds of plants will take
over? And what will be the future of salmon and steelhead that have
hung on in the lower river all these years?
These are subjects I touched on in a series of articles
published in Sunday’s Kitsap Sun. In one piece, I also mentioned
the special cultural significance of the Elwha River to the Lower
Elwha Klallam Tribe.
What I did not cover in this reporting project was the old
debate about whether the two dams should be removed. At $350
million, it’s an expensive project, and some people are convinced
that it is not worthwhile. Costs of protecting water quality for
the city of Port Angeles and replacing the power for the paper mill
are part of the public expense. But these issues were decided long
ago.
My intention in these articles was to show what could be
expected as the dams come down and the restoration moves into the
key areas behind the reservoirs.
For general information with links to related studies, visit the
Elwha Watershed Information
Resource, developed by the University of Idaho through a
cooperative agreement with the NOAA Coastal Services Center and in
partnership with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Peninsula College
and Western Washington University.
I’ve written lots of stories about replacing culverts to improve
salmon passage, but a $600,000 grant to the Suquamish Tribe will be
used to remove a culvert and fully open up the estuary at the mouth
of Chico Creek.
This culvert on Chico Creek is
scheduled for removal. Here, Suquamish Fisheries Manager Jay
Zischke and the tribe's environmental biologist Tom Ostrom survey
the scene.
Photo courtesy of Northwest Indian Fisheries
Commission
The Chico Creek grant was among some $30 million in grants
announced Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of
the Puget Sound Estuary Program. I wrote about the grants and
quoted involved officials in a story published in
yesterday’s Kitsap Sun. I’ll cover the other Puget Sound
projects here after talking about the one on Chico Creek.
Most roads that follow a shoreline in the Puget Sound region go
somewhere important, but Kittyhawk Drive is a dead-end. After
crossing Chico Creek, the road serves only three homes, if I recall
correctly.
After the stream flows through a culvert under Highway 3, it
passes beneath Kittyhawk Drive with enough force to blow out some
of the large rocks planted there to help salmon make it upstream.
Removing the culvert will improve the estuary and help with the
fish-passage problem at that location, but the project needs to
address a change in elevation to get up to the freeway culvert.
The freeway culvert is another obstacle of concern. Local
officials are working with the Washington Department of
Transportation to find a way to replace that freeway culvert with a
bridge. Needless to say, the cost will be enormous.
Another Chico Creek culvert destined for replacement is the one
under Golf Club Road, just upstream from Kitsap Golf and Country
Club. That culvert replacement is part of an extensive restoration
of the stream channel where if flows through the golf course.
Yes, all this sounds like a lot of expense for one salmon
stream, but biologists will tell you that Chico Creek supports the
largest chum salmon run on the Kitsap Peninsula and provides a
decent run of coho and potentially other species. Once the
migrating adult salmon make it through the culverts near the mouth
of the stream, they have good spawning habitat upstream in the
Chico Creek watershed. Tributaries include Kitsap Creek, which
flows out of Kitsap Lake; Wildcat Creek, which flows out of Wildcat
Lake; and Dickerson Creek, which originates within a vast
undeveloped forestland.
Exactly when we’ll see the culvert under Kittyhawk Drive removed
remains uncertain. First, a new driveway must be built for
residents on the far side of the culvert. I’m told there is still
some design work to be done before contracts can go out to bid, and
construction must be scheduled around the salmon migrations.
Sunday’s “60 Minutes” program revealed a lot to me about the
blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling platform in the Gulf
of Mexico.
On the technical side, survivor Mike Williams describes a series
of human errors in operation and judgment that may have caused the
blowout. On the human side, Williams’ dramatic account of his
narrow escape from death is riveting.
If you haven’t seen the program, I suggest you go to the website
for
“Blowout: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster” and play the video
segments along the left side of the page. If you have seen the
program, the “extras” may interest you. I know I was wondering what
happened to the young woman who Williams told to jump from the rig
as fire enveloped them. Her fate was not described on television,
but her rescue is explained in the “extras.”
I would not be surprised if a movie producer is already
scrambling for the right to tell Williams’ story, but that’s
another matter.
The imbedded video here is Part 2, which begins with Williams’
escape from the oil rig, then launches into a discussion about the
possible cause of the blowout. Reporter Scott Pelley’s explanation,
with graphics, puts things in simple terms — including how the
blowout preventer may have become damaged during operations, how
backup control equipment went unrepaired, and how decisions about
managing well pressure during shutdown may have led to the fiery
gusher.
I have to remind myself that we have not seen a report of the
investigation, though one is under way by the Coast Guard and
Mineral Management Service. Over the weekend, President Obama
apparently decided to create a commission to look into the incident
as well, according to
ABC News. and the
Associated Press.
At this point, we don’t even have a complete response or
description from BP managers who operated the drilling rig. So I
will be cautious in drawing conclusions, but it is becoming clear
that company personnel made not one but a series of fatal errors
likely to be described in detail before this incident is put to
rest.
After years of struggle and failure to reverse the decline of
Chesapeake Bay’s rich ecosystem, the Obama administration this
morning announced a new federal strategy for restoring the bay to
health.
I believe it will be important for us in the Puget Sound region
to pay attention to this strategy, as we also observe our own Puget
Sound Partnership struggling to accomplish similar goals in our
region.
“The strategy includes using rigorous regulations to restore
clean water, implementing new conservation practices on 4 million
acres of farms, conserving 2 million acres of undeveloped land and
rebuilding oysters in 20 tributaries of the bay.
“To increase accountability, federal agencies will establish
milestones every two years for actions to make progress toward
measurable environmental goals. These will support and complement
the states’ two-year milestones.”
Last year, out of frustration, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation
sued the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to enforce
provisions of the Clean Water Act that would improve the bay’s
water quality and help the ecosystem. Yesterday, the CBF dropped the lawsuit
on a promise that the EPA will ensure that improvements are made on
a strict schedule.
In many ways, the strategy appears to mirror philosophies found
in the legislation creating the Puget Sound Partnership — including
science-based priorities, measured progress and accountability.
One idea from the Chesapeake strategy: “Greater transparency and
integration of federal, state and local actions will be greatly
enhanced through ChesapeakeStat, a web-based tool designed
to provide performance data and information in a format that allows
a range of audiences to understand the work being done in the
Chesapeake watershed.”
The new federal strategy recognizes the need to continue
existing efforts and to focus on other short-term actions by local
governments and nonprofit organizations. It also includes a focus
on jobs, including agriculture, fishing and conservation. And, as
with the Puget Sound Partnership, a strong effort will be made to
focus dollars and resources where it will do the most good.
Here are some comments from federal officials taken from the
news release: (more…)
When Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared the
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a matter of national significance,
she essentially put on alert all emergency management systems
across the country.
Washington Department of Ecology, which is responsible for
responding to oil spills in this state, has identified resources
the agency could send while maintaining an adequate local response
capability, said Ecology’s Curt Hart in a memo he issued Monday to
news reporters and editors.
Spill response companies in Washington and across the country
are identifying people and resources that could be sent to the
Gulf, he said.
Hart is communications manager for Ecology’s Spill Prevention,
Preparedness, and Response Program. Here’s a portion of his
memo:
Ecology expects to continue to receive requests for people and
equipment from the spill response community to assist in the
response. Our department is working to make sure we have a sound
plan in place to process these requests. It is important that we
are well coordinated in this effort and that no required response
resources are moved out of Washington state without explicit
approval.
Some, like the Marine Spill Response Corp., have already sent 26
experienced responders, 15,000 gallons of chemical dispersants used
to minimize oil shoreline impacts, 1,400 feet of special fireproof
boom to burn oil in place on the water.
On Friday, April 30, the Department of Homeland Security asked
state agencies in Washington, including Ecology, what resources
they could send to aid our Gulf coast communities if and when it
becomes necessary.
This type of issue is not new to Ecology. We have had mutual aid
plans in place with the other west coast states and the Province of
British Columbia since 1993. It is our general policy to provide
the appropriate resources necessary to support our partners in the
United States and Canada in order to protect our national
environmental and economic interest. We may also need their help in
return someday.
Ecology and other state agencies are participating in the state
Department of Military Emergency Management Division’s “Emergency
Management Assistance Compact (EMAC)” activation. EMAC is a
national interstate mutual aid agreement that enables states to
share resources during times of disaster. We have identified the
types and number of resources that we could send while still
maintaining our local response capability.
In addition to private responders, Ecology has indicated that it
could send 11 specialists in oil spills and natural resources and
27 shoreline cleanup technicians, according to an
Associated Press story by George Tibbits.
It is likely that the cleanup will go on for months. In previous
oil-spill cleanups, workers who come later to relieve the first
responders are invaluable — and that may be when the most workers
from the West Coast are called in.
All the pieces are nearly in place for Kitsap County residents
and planners to begin examining the ecosystem at the edge of the
waters encircling the Kitsap Peninsula.
Beyond beauty, shoreline
environments contain vital ecosystems. (Click to enlarge)
Kitsap Sun photo
Oh, yes, lakes and a few streams are part of the picture.
Kitsap County commissioners last night appointed a 20-member
citizen task force to take a central role in the planning effort.
For the first time in county history, regulations will be based on
ecosystem values. See the story I wrote for
today’s Kitsap Sun listing the members.
Similar planning efforts are under way in Kitsap’s cities as
well as various communities throughout the Puget Sound region. I
wrote a story for the
Kitsap Sun Feb. 27 regarding the effort for our cities.
In the past, shoreline regulations were based on existing land
uses. Buffers — including the current 100-foot buffer for rural
areas — were uniform throughout the entire county. Previous rules
never took into consideration the particular types of shoreline or
their ecological values. For example, an estuary with a highly
productive marsh and a stream running through it was treated
exactly the same as a rocky outcropping pounded by waves. (more…)
If you missed the “60 Minutes” segment on California’s water
crisis, you may wish to view it online.
Reporter Leslie Stahl and her producers take time to explain the
water shortage in the vast Central Valley and its effects on
California farmers, with a special focus on the plans and ambitions
of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It appears to me that the biggest lesson Washington state
residents can learn from California’s experience is to keep our
eyes open to the entire world around us, move forward
strategically, and never take water for granted.
Here is a sampling of comments from Todd Allen, a wheat, cotton
and cantaloupe farmer in the region:
“This right here is 150 acres, and there hasn’t been anything
planted on it …. You know, I’ve got a wife and kids. The thought of
bankruptcy is something…I don’t think I could deal with that.”
But he doesn’t blame his troubles on the drought, Stahl
explains. He blames the environmentalists who sued under the
Endangered Species Act to protect a tiny little fish, the Delta
smelt. And he blames the federal judge who ordered that the water
pumps be turned down to save the fish, with the result that Allen
got almost no water. He continues:
“When you can put the needs of a two-inch fish above me and my
family and that thing could potentially bankrupt me, I got a
serious problem with that… I even told Schwarzenegger to put all of
us farmers out here on the California Endangered Species Act.
Because that’s what I feel. I feel like I’m being punished, and I
haven’t done a darn thing wrong.”
Here are comments from the governor himself while flying in a
helicopter with Stahl: (more…)
This week, I thought we’d take a look at some water-related
time-lapse photography. While this type of video is not really
humorous, I find this stuff fascinating. Folks at People for Puget
Sound got me started on the idea when they pointed out an amazing
underwater video by the BBC. We’ll get to the BBC video later, but
I wanted to start off by watching the flow of a stream in the video
below.
The time-lapse project is by Kevin Bell of New Hampshire. The
shots were taken at the Nashua River in his state and at the
Willard Brook State Forest in Massachusetts. The still shots were
from the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. The music
is by Explosions In The Sky, from Texas.
When I visited the Chesapeake Bay region a few years ago to seek
out similarities and differences to Puget Sound, I learned about
the importance of oysters to the bay’s ecosystem. This time-lapse
video by
Chesapeake Bay Foundation shows how quickly algae can be taken
up by native oysters in a controlled experiment.
This summer, Kitsap’s own Dale Ireland shot a cool video of Hood
Canal, showing tidal changes, cloud movement and smoke coming
out of the Dosewallips Valley during a forest fire. It also
happened to be the hottest day on record for the area.
Finally, here’s the BBC
video. A warning for the squeamish: The video includes the
decomposition of a dead seal.
“Salish Sea” is now the official name for our inland waterway
that stretches across more than 1,400 square miles of Western
Washington and British Columbia. See my story in
today’s Kitsap Sun.
Salish Sea watershed
EPA graphic
The question now is whether the name will catch on and be used
more frequently.
One application that comes to mind is the description of the
three pods of killer whales known as Southern Residents. I’ve often
referred to these animals as the orcas that frequent Puget Sound.
That’s because “Southern Residents” have little meaning to the
average reader, who wishes to know why they are “southern” and what
I mean by “residents.”
It so happens that the Salish Sea just about defines the range
of these whales for a large percentage of the year.
Now I may refer to them as the killer whales that frequent or
mainly reside in the Salish Sea — including much of the summer in
the San Juan Islands, with winter and fall stints into Puget
Sound.
I’m not sure how else I will use this term, but I no longer feel
constrained by the idea that the Salish Sea is not a real name and
has never been defined by any authority.
Here are some facts about the Salish Sea provided by the
SeaDoc
Society. (I’ve converted meters to feet and kilometers to
miles.)
Coastline length, including islands: 4,642 miles
Total number of islands: 419
Total land area of islands: 1,413 square miles
Sea surface area: 9,942 square miles
Maximum depth: 886 feet
Number of different marine animals species estimated: 20
species of mammals, 128 species of birds, 219 species of fish, and
over 3000 species of invertebrates
Number of species listed as threatened, endangered or are
candidates for listing: 64
Total watershed area, not counting the upper Fraser River area
(See Stefan
Freelan): 42,000 square miles
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."
— Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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